Happy ending?
by monkeyon
Summary: The real reason for Harry leaving is explained in a letter to Nikki that arrives on her birthday years later.


Page | **2**

"Happy ending" by Monkeyon

Fan fiction – Silent witness…Disclaimer – I do not own silent witness.

The real reason for Harry's departure is revealed in a letter that Nikki receives on her birthday some years later.

Dear Dr Alexander,

I apologise for my forwardness (I get that from dad) but I am writing to you because I feel it's something I have to do for myself and for dad. Excuse me if you may if in fact are a professor now, he always said there is no right in the world if you were never offered the professorship at the Lyell centre. Congratulations if someone saw sense to give you the promotion you deserve.

Dad left for New York all those years ago not just to take the promotion but because he felt it was what he had to do. I feel I have got a lot of written pages under my belt as I had written to him months before his decision was made. He tells me you are aware of what happened in his past. How you supported him through the turmoil of finding my mother on the slab in front of him. He argued that he never gave the world a thing, that his life was empty and he owed it to me to be part of my life as he had to make up for being an absentee father. We bonded through modern ways, Skype owe their business to us alone and I even came to stay in England for a week. I was the reason he cancelled a few DVD nights. So the decision was made. He settled into the new life, American ways, the university, the job, the doting father. A year later he gave me away at my wedding. I hadn't had the heart to tell him I was already expecting his first grandchild. So only a few months into my married life I gave birth to a boy. He settled into being a doting grandfather just as well, spoilt Benji rotten.

Then he started to look back at his old life a bit more. Thought maybe old age was clouding his stubborn view on life. Parenthood had made him a little softer around the edges. It was a matter of time till the truth was revealed, after collapsing at the university I was told by the doctors in the waiting room about his condition, something they assumed I knew.

I can't tell you the emotional turmoil of his treatment. At his lowest he believed he deserved it, it was the worlds way of getting back at him for all the wrongs he had done. It took months before he was back on his feet. The university gave him an option of an early retirement of sorts. He took a job as a consultant to a new friend he had made through his time at the university.

The birth of Sarah my daughter seemed to ease any last remaining ghosts for him. Now I am waiting to give birth to another boy. I was at my baby shower when I got the call. He was at the shopping centre with my husband buying some new baby things when the accident happened. My husband seemed to be relatively unhurt but dad was nearer to the set off point. He's been in ICU for a week now. There is no question over his physical injuries - broken bones, too many to mention, internal bleeds, too many to mention and cuts and bruises too many to mention.

There is a question over his mental health and that is why I write to you today. During his treatment he said he would never want to be a burden or a vegetable as he put it. I have been asked to think about what's best for him; they have asked me if I want to switch him off. In the last 7 days I have resolved that yes I will give him his peace but as much as the romantic part of me wants to believe he and mum would be happy in heaven. I know that the only one that made him happy was you and he gave that up for me. I can't let it end that way. You have an out being there in England, if he is still with us and you want to say your good bye then we are at St Leonards, N.Y general hospital. I hope this letter finds you in good time.

With regards

Izzy Smith (would be Cunningham)

Nikki would have reread the note time and time again but it was unreadable on the second attempt as the tears rolled down her face.

…...

"Izzy."

"Yes."

"There's someone to see you."

"Who is it?" Izzy stands by her dad's hospital bed rubbing his forehead and giving him a kiss on his cheek. She turns to see a tall blond woman with mascara running down her cheeks.

"Hello Nikki." Izzy smiled. Soon they are embracing each other in a hug.

"Dad you have a visitor, I know you are going to hate me but I don't care. You can hate me for the rest of my life. You can shout at me, disown me, just as long as you open those eyes for me, for Benji, for Sarah, for the new baby, for Nikki." Izzy gets close to Harrys ear. "If your quick dad you might even have time to give me some brothers and sisters".

The end


End file.
